Tasting of 2009 Burgundies, 31st March

How on earth did that glass of water manage to crash the party?!

On Thursday I attended a tasting of 2009 burgundies at the offices of Edward Parker Wines hosted by ACC. They were mainly village-level but there was one premier cru and also a couple of Morgons. All these wines are very young and in many cases won't be ready for several years.

We tasted the following:

1. Chablis, Domaine Gilles & Nathalie Fevre. This was quite pale in colour, had a lovely elegant nose and richness on the palate but also the minerality typical of the Chablis region. ACC described it as "gastronomic chablis" - some smoked salmon with this one would really hit the spot. Very reasonable value at £105 for a case of twelve in bond.

2. Cote-de-Beaune "La Grande Chatelaine", Domaine Emmanuel Giboulot. I'm a big fan of this domaine as written about here so was looking forward to this. But there was something slightly weird going on on the nose and G thought it was not correct. I got hay and some earthiness - possibly a "hint of the farmyard". I found it very interesting and it had an amazing finish, but I've already bought a different 2009 white from Giboulot so I won't be getting this one.

3. Chassagne-Montrachet, Domaine Bachey-Legros. I hadn't come across this domaine before but this was an accomplished village level Chassagne with a streak of lemon down the middle and some honey.

4. Puligny-Montrachet 1er cru Perrieres, Domaine Sylvain Bzikot. I'm also a big fan of this domaine as written about here but I hadn't tasted this wine before. ACC said that Sylvain makes one tenth as much of it as he makes of his Folatieres which has always been superb. It was difficult tasting a premier cru that's only a year old - it had a sensational nose but the structure had not yet come together. We thought this will be a future 10 and I couldn't resist going for a six pack at £215 (£425 per case) in bond. Not cheap but it's excellent value for what it is, especially compared to the competition.

5. 2009 Morgon, Domaine Boulon. I'd heard rave reviews about the 2009 beaujolais vintage and was not disappointed. This had a delightful nose with vibrant fruit. A lovely, light red good for weekday drinking. I went for a case at £90 in bond which I think will work out at around £10 a bottle by the time it comes in.

6. Morgon "Cuvee Pauline", Domaine Boulon. This is a special cuvee of Morgon, and plus serieux. It had a slightly darker colour and an intense nose of blackcurrants. This is the kind of Morgon that one should tuck away for 5 years - it's not an easy drinker like the previous wine. Apparently Pauline is the name of the grower's wife - aah. As you can see from the photo, this hasn't yet got a proper label and just had something delightfully hand-written. I went for a case of this too, at £125 for twelve in bond.

7. Hautes-Cotes-de-Nuits "Sous le Mont", Domaine Emmanuel Giboulot. This was quite a pale colour and had a wonderful fragrance of wild strawberries. It was delicate, elegant and pure - G said "pretty". ACC said it would go well with poached salmon and certainly it's not the kind of wine that would work with heavy red meat or game. At the moment it has relatively high acidity so it will need to be tucked away for 2-3 years. I loved it when we tasted it at the domaine back in January, so had already snapped some up during the en primeur offer (£95 for six or £180 for twelve in bond).

8. Gevrey-Chambertin "La Justice", Domaine Felettig. I've never been to this domaine but I do get through industrial quantities of their Vieux Marc so expectations were high. ACC told us that the textbook tasting note for Gevrey is liquorice on the nose and this was indeed the case. It was quite savoury and had rich, dark fruits. Really it is a wine for the winter and would be best drunk with a hearty game dish, and again, it needs at least a couple of years.

As a bonus bottle at the end ACC produced Felettig's 2007 Chambolle Clos le Village which was charming and elegant, as one would expect from the 2007 vintage and the village of Chambolle. This was more approachable than the Gevrey.

All in all, a really interesting tasting with something for everyone.

Domaine Sylvain Dussort, 7th Jan

On Friday morning we packed up our bags to leave Meursault, but not before a visit to Domaine Dussort. Sylvain mainly specialises in white wines, and his Bourgogne Blanc Cuvee des Ormes always goes down well. I was also particularly impressed with the Meursault Vieilles Vignes 2009. But the big surprise of the tasting was the red Beaune, Fleurs Blanches, which was still in a stainless steel cuve. It had a wonderful perfume and a beautiful colour, and was a good expression of Beaune. Apparently part of this vineyard is premier cru, but this particular wine isn't, so it's rather good value.

Another enormous cellar...

And that wraps up this year's trip to Burgundy - a great selection of committed, enthusiastic, relatively small-scale producers making wines in tiny quantities. It's a privilege to visit them and drink this stuff and I'm very grateful to ACC for arranging these tastings. It seems only fair to mention that some of these wines can be obtained from Edward Parker Wines and compared to other (perhaps more famous) wine merchants, the growers and negociants they work with offer excellent quality without giving you a heart attack when you look at the prices.

Next up on A de V, tomorrow's Madeira dinner where we will be tasting wines from extinct producers - watch this space.

Domaine Dussort, 4th Jan

We had an excellent lunch at le Chevreuil in Meursault, but failed to have the house speciality, hot terrine, so I guess we'll have to go back another time for that. The highlight for me was when I heard a miaow indicating that the hotel cat had wandered into the restaurant. The owner tried to sweep it out again but I was able to entice it to come over to say hello first.

After that, we searched in vain for a boulangerie that might be open, but even the supermarket in the square was pretending to be closed, so we made our way empty-handed down the slope to Domaine Sylvain Dussort. I'd managed to lose my pen, so was unable to take proper notes, but I can record that this was my second visit to the domain, and we tasted the range of 2008 wines ranging from Bourgogne Blanc Cuvee des Ormes to the Meursault le Limozin, which is a highly-regarded lieu-dit. They're all good wines and very good value compared to the better-known producers of Meursault.